Settlers move into homes of brand new Israeli settlement, deep in West Bank

Israeli settlers “unveiled” the new settlement of Amichai yesterday, moving into their new homes deep in the occupied West Bank.

Amichai is the first brand new settlement in the West Bank in some two decades. However, this does not include “unauthorised” settlement outposts retroactively “legalised” by the Israeli government.

All Israeli settlements in the occupied Palestinian territory are viewed as a grave violation of international law by the United Nations Security Council, International Court of Justice and others.

An official ceremony was held yesterday “marking the move-in day of the first 25 families”, with another 17 families slated to join them after Passover. The ceremony came a month after Israeli occupation authorities started building homes at the new settlement.

Read: 17% increase in Israel’s settlement construction under Trump

The settlement is being built to house about 300 hardline settlers from the illegal West Bank outpost of Amona, which was forcibly emptied a year ago after an Israeli court ruled their houses were on privately owned Palestinian land.

In June last year, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced that work on a new settlement would begin.

Avichai Boron, chair of the Amona residents’ committee, declared: “We are looking forward to entering our new homes, which we were able to establish with the blood of our hearts, with determination and faith, love for the land and for Zionism.”